Toddler trapped in well

Press, 17 October 1987, Page 10

Toddler trapped in well

NZPA-Reuter

Midland, Texas

Crews working to free an 18-month-old girl from an abandoned well hit a snag after more than 32 hours when they drilled into the wrong underground pipe late on Thursday (Texas time), one rescue expert said. “We’re, working against time,” said John Bartlett, a rescue worker with experience in salt mines.

“She hasn’t had anything to eat or drink. She cries, she sings occasionally. She’s still asking for her mamma.” The error could mean 10 more hours of drilling through solid’rock before rescuers reach little Jessica McClure.

Authorities said the girl fell into the well, which had been covered by a flower pot, while playing in the yard with other

children attending a daycare centre. „

The workers had dug a shaft parallel to the well to try to tunnel beneath the child and were scraping through solid rock, moving directly toward the girl, Mr Bartlett said.

He said workers were still 60cm away from the well’s walls, a distance he said could take more than 10 hours of hard drilling. Workers had thought

they had reached the well’s casing earlier, but, Mr Bartlett said, they had struck the Wrong pipe. A rescue volunteer, David Perry, an experienced oil'driller, said the little girl’s exact location was not known.

“I’ve done mining, but this is scary because we don’t exactly know where she is,” he said. “We don't know where we are in relationship to her.”